Cooking For A Cause
A fundraiser/interactive cooking show featuring 5 chefs.
paired with non-profits desperately in need of funds.
Hudson Valley & Westchester: Hudson Valley Eats (www.hudsonvalleyeats.com), the restaurant-focused food insecurity platform, has brought together 5 of the Hudson Valley’s top chefs for a fundraising cooking event beginning January 12, 2021, called “Cooking For A Cause,” to give 100% net profits of the proceeds to 5 local non-profits who specialize in getting food directly to locals in need.
For those who love cooking shows and want to experience cooking with a chef on a screen in their home – while directly investing in local non-profits, this is the perfect multi-evening opportunity! “Cooking For A Cause” pairs 5 chefs with 5 non-profits to broadcast online cooking classes every Tuesday from January 12 to February 9nd, 2021 from 6pm-7:30pm. Tickets are $50, and for each class ticket sold, 100% of the proceeds go to the dedicated non-profit paired with that class.
The founder of this give-back cooking series and of HudsonValleyEats.com, Janet Irizarry, leads by her mother’s motto: “If you are going to be part of the community, you need to find something you can do that will make a difference.” Janet’s specialty is in restaurant and food management, having consulted with numerous successful restaurants, and teaches at the Culinary Institute of America. She brings together local talent in the culinary world for everyone to experience and benefit from.
HOW “COOKING FOR A CAUSE” WORKS
Participants will be sent a shopping list for ingredients in advance, and a Zoom link for the live cooking show. People can start cooking along with the chef, or just watch and drink wine, thinking about cooking! Anyone can ask the chef questions along the way.
Tickets are $50/class, start on January 12th, 2021, and run from 6pm-7:30pm on Tuesdays. People can buy a ticket to each class, which directly benefits the non-profit associated with the chef.
Tickets can be purchased online here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cooking-for-a-cause-tickets-132578954221
Non-profits and classes from chefs include:
– Dutchess Outreach (1/12/2021): Chef Rebecca Carucci, cooking plant-based recipes with Frances Gonzalez, a specialist in vegan wines. Chef Carucci is going to demonstrate how to cook Mexican Style Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. It is chock full of omega 3, protein, iron, B12s and is guaranteed to satisfy your hunger for winter comfort food.
– People’s Place (1/19/2021): Chef Agnes Devereaux, owner of The Village Tea Room Restaurant & Bake Shop in New Paltz, will teach how to make Pan Seared Hudson Valley Steelhead Trout with escargot butter and butternut squash with onions, sage, and grapes.
– Feeding Westchester (1/26/2021): Chef Leslie Lampert is converting your fridge rejects (wilted, shriveled veggies, bruised fruits, gently expired yogurt, cottage cheese, tomato paste, forgotten frozen meats), to pantry pariahs (a leftover handful of rice, a half-cup pasta, that almond flour you bought for one recipe), Leslie, The Scrappy Chef, will teach you how to transform your neglected leftovers to create healthful, delicious meals that prevent food waste!
– Meals on Wheels (2/2/2021): Chef Chef Whitton is the owner of Pier 701 in Piermont and recently opened Autumn, a fine-dining French cuisine restaurant in Sparkill, New York. Enjoy an evening in Paris with Chef Whitton as he shows how to prepare a classic Coq a Vin with mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes.
– Second Chance Foods (2/9/2021): Chef Shelley Boris Do you love risotto, but only eat it when you go out to a restaurant because you have heard how difficult it is to cook correctly? Shelley and her son, Philip Lewis, are going to teach you how to make the perfect risotto every time by demonstrating the basic techniques involved, while also giving you variations that will be right for any occasion.
ABOUT THE FOUNDER
Janet Irizarry is an Adjunct Professor at the Culinary Institute of America, and a Managing Partner of the Hospitality Alliance which brings to gather business professionals who directly service the regions’ restaurants, hotels, B&Bs, and hospitals, with large-scale food and beverage operations in the Hudson Valley. She is the Editor of HudsonValleyEATS.com, a website, and Facebook Group that connects everyone in the Hudson Valley with food, not just those who can afford it. Janet was a Contributing Columnist for Hudson Valley News Network for the Food, Wine & Spirits beat, and is the owner of JI Restaurant Consulting.
ABOUT EACH NON-PROFIT
Dutchess Outreach: Dutchess Outreach acts as a catalyst for community revitalization and exists in Dutchess County as an advocate and provider of hunger and relief services in order to ensure that everyone, regardless of income, has access to fresh, healthy food, and the support they need.
People’s Place: People’s Place is a not-for-profit organization feeding, clothing, and responding to the needs of the people in Ulster County with kindness, compassion, and the preservation of human dignity since 1972. People’s Place operates a high-quality Thrift Store as its primary economic engine, which is closed during the pandemic. They rely on donations and volunteers from the community and conduct fundraisers, which were also impacted due to the pandemic.
Feeding Westchester: Their mission is to end hunger in Westchester County. As the heart of a network of nearly 300 community partners, the source and distribute food and other resources to towns across Westchester County, helping to ensure that none of their neighbors are hungry.
Meals on Wheels: Since being founded in 1974 Meals on Wheels has delivered more than eight million meals, often making the difference between a recipient being able to remain at home, and living independently, or being placed in a health care or nursing home. In 2011 volunteers will deliver more than 122,000 meals to homebound Rockland residents who are unable to shop or prepare their own food due to advancing age, illness, or physical disability. Over 900 meals are prepared in the central commissary daily to support the programs and contracts of the agency.
Second Chance Foods: An organization dedicated to rescuing unsold, un-served, aesthetically imperfect food and distributing it is an effort to combat food insecurity and reducing food waste.
Thank you for your consideration in running this story for your audience, and/or posting this event to your public calendar.
Please let me know if I can answer any questions!
Janet Irizarry
“Making Sure EVERYONE in the Hudson Valley EATS”
Editor: Hudson Valley EATS
845-598-4760
